12 Ways To Grow Consistently On Instagram

If you are building a business or a personal brand then you have probably been told numerous times that you need to build an engaged online presence on Social Media.

After building my online presence for over a year I have learned that social media is an apple tree, and apple trees take a pretty long time to grow. But there are things that you can do to water the tree.

Here is a rundown of the ways that I grew my social media in recent weeks including 100–150 new followers every 3 or 4 weeks on Instagram. I hope it is helpful.

Engage With Other Accounts

This is at the top as I think it's absolutely critical for social media success, especially on Instagram. Social media is meant to be social, and we can’t expect to get follows, likes, saves, and shares unless we are engaging with other accounts. For me, there has been a pretty strong correlation between how much I engage with others and how much engagement I receive.

Have A Consistent Posting Schedule

Over the last year, I have found that being consistent really does make a difference. When I have taken breaks or posted sporadically my growth and engagement takes a hit. You don’t need to post every day or multiple times a day though, it could be just 3 or 4 times a week. The important thing is to just choose a posting schedule that will work for you and stick to it.

Just Be Yourself

There is SO much fake content online. Happy couple photos where one of them has been cheating for years but they pretend it's all OK, 10k month overnight celebrations that actually took years to achieve, heavily edited photos, or women posing in certain ways to look thinner. Amongst all these lies and falsehoods be yourself. Be real. Be genuine. People want authenticity.

Show Your Face

In August last year, I ran a little experiment inspired by Jenna Kutcher to feature myself in 70–80% of my content.

Out of 25 posts, 13 posts were of me so I only managed 52% (it was SO uncomfortable guys) but it still made a big impact.

In August, content interactions increased by 11%, post interactions increased by 25.3% and I got 18% more followers than in July. On average I also got far more likes and comments on posts of my face as well.

Vary Your Content

Have fun with your social media. Post about different topics and alternate them. Play around with different content formats on your grid, and also create other content like stories, reels, IGTV, and guides of top posts.

Repurpose Popular Content

Look at your social media analytics at least once a month to see which posts drove the most engagement and growth. Then repurpose those posts or create similar content.

Take Time To Explore

Visit the explore page regularly; daily if you can or at least once or twice a week and engage with some of the posts at the top of the page. By commenting on popular posts you will get seen by other users. Similarly also just comment on posts of popular IG users to get seen. This is particularly effective if you manage to be one of the first comments on a post.

Follow Relevant Hashtags

Find hashtags that are really relevant to your content and target audience and follow them. If you are not sure what hashtags to follow, take a look at accounts that post similar content to you and see what hashtags they are following and including in their content. Also, look for people who are your target audience and see what hashtags they are following.

Follow Accounts That Interest You

Every week find small and medium-sized accounts to follow that are relevant to your niche and your target audience. Only follow accounts that interest you though who you will want to engage with, and don’t engage in any follow/unfollow tactics. If you just follow to unfollow you will just get unfollowed yourself.

Don’t Be Salesy All The Time

No one wants to be spammed with tons of sales content. A good rule of thumb is to say 20%-30% sales & promo content. Even when you are launching don’t just post promo content, include other content that is relevant to the topic of your launch to mix it up.

Don’t Take Results Personally

If you focus on the numbers and how fast you are or are not growing the likelihood is that you will constantly take the results personally.

If you are constantly taking breaks from Instagram or other social media, is it because you are getting disheartened by your results? If you are comparing yourself to others or constantly just focusing on the numbers it's harder to keep being consistent. Focus on yourself and your accounts, not your competitors. You will grow faster that way

Be Patient & Persistent

Success doesn’t happen overnight. Growing an engaged social media presence takes time and effort. It is a marathon, not a sprint. All those massive social media accounts where there are big followings and ’10k+’ month have been working at their businesses and social media for years and/or been honing skills like learning digital marketing over a period of time. Sure, things like reels or achieving a viral post can help you grow quickly but ultimately you need to be patient, persistent, and determined to keep showing up regardless of the result in order to succeed in the long run.

So there you have it, these are all the tactics that I have been experimenting with in recent weeks that have made a difference. Doing all of these things every day is ideal but let’s get real and acknowledge that it's a ton of work. I don’t live on social media so I only do some of these things a few times a week but it still makes a difference. My number one tip is just to figure out a social media activity schedule that you can stick to without overwhelm or burnout.